Risk management is the practice of identifying and analyzing loss exposures and taking steps to minimize them. When you commit to protecting your patients and the integrity of your profession, you do a better job of protecting yourself against allegations of malpractice.

Three medical emergency training courses come to CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry in Anaheim, May 17–19, answering a high demand from dentists and dental team members for hands-on training in medical emergency preparation and management to help ensure successful patient outcomes and reduce risk to the practice. The courses are led by Rick Ritt, EMT-P, MA, a paramedic for more than 35 years who has trained thousands of dentists and their staff, and are co-sponsored by TDIC.

Attendees of the 2018 Anaheim CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry will have a number of opportunities to learn about employment law and how to reduce employment liability risks in their practices. Sponsored by The Dentists Insurance Company, the workshop Caution and Control — Reducing Employment Liability will be presented all three days of the May meeting.

CDA has fielded calls recently from dental practices wishing to learn more about the risk analysis required of all entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Coincidentally, in response to the rapid rise of ransomware attacks, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights in July issued new guidance for health care providers.

Data loss can happen to anyone, at any time. Data loss can even happen to dentists. The Dentists Insurance Company reports one Bay Area dentist lost all of his patient records when his hard drive crashed. When he attempted to restore the data by accessing his backups, he discovered his system hadn’t been backing up for two years.

When faced with equipment failure, practice owners must be prudent with their actions should they seek to file a claim with their insurance carrier. At best, failure to preserve property can result in a delay in payment; at worst, it can result in the loss not being covered at all.

Dental practices are among the victims falling prey to ransomware, a type of malware that infects and disables computers and demands payment from victims to restore computer access. The Dentists Insurance Company warns dentists that ransomware can bring a practice to a standstill.

In the online world, a website establishes and represents your practice. Just like your brick-and-mortar office, a website needs to be efficient, clean and current. In attracting new patients to your practice via your website, you may want to include testimonials and photos of your patients, and The Dentists Insurance Company reminds dentists to secure patient permission in writing first. TDIC’s website at tdicinsurance.com offers image consent forms.